Writing is hard work! You need to take care of yourself in order to evoke your best creative efforts. But when a writer is on a deadline (or a hot streak!), it is hard to remember or to take the time to eat right. Instead of snacking on chips and gallons of coffee or soda, keep some good stuff on hand:

Writing is often perceived as a solitary occupation. However, that is not true. These days there are so many ways to connect with other writers and readers, which you need to do. Here are the best ways to make these connections:

Social Media. This covers a lot of ground, such as blogging, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. Make a list of your favorites and then find out where your audience is. There is no point in being on Instagram if your audience is on LinkedIn. Narrow down the list to just one or two so that you don’t spend hours daily trying to be everywhere. It is better to make a strong presence on one site than trying to be everywhere. Think of all the things you can do to reach your audience, such as guest blogging, video book trailers, and a Facebook Fan Page.

Grow your email list. It goes without saying that in this day and age authors need a website. While you can also have a Goodreads or Facebook page, you need to have a separate author site where you can control all content, offer book giveaways, and announce author news (such as upcoming releases). Whatever else you choose to do, this is a must. Be sure to post good content consistently. Encourage interaction by asking for comments and offering advice and giveaways.

Attend book events to learn the latest publishing trends, network, and more. Here is a list of the top events for 2017:

The best advice we can offer you is to take some time in December and January to write a plan for the year. This should include a writing schedule and all book promotions/marketing/events. Decide how many books you will write and how you will promote them to ensure their success. Plans need to be in motion weeks or months prior to a book launch date, so take that into account during your planning. Make this your year to grow and flourish as a writer! You deserve it!

Calling all literary lovers…here is a list of the best U.S. and international book festivals:

National Book Festival – Library of Congress is held at National Mall in Washington, D.C. (9/5) www.loc.gov/bookfest (2015 is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s acquisition of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library).

Here at Safari Publishing we take the well being of wildlife worldwide very seriously. We are especially interested in the preservation and protection of African wildlife. This year the struggle to protect these animals was highlighted by what happened to Cecil the lion. Sadly, this kind of thing happens too often. Poaching and hunting are profitable enterprises. At least one rhino is killed every day due to the mistaken belief that rhino horn can cure cancer and hangovers. The demand for elephant tusks (ivory) is huge in China. Lions are killed for sport and the list goes on.

P.S. This guy is not injured or dead. This photo was taken by one of our staff while on safari. She reported that he was completely oblivious to their jeep and seemed to be sunbathing and settling into a nice nap!

This winter is a good time hunker down and write that book you’ve been talking about for far too long. We have the perfect resource to help you.

Also, be sure to take care to avoid getting sick. This includes washing your hands and/or using a hand sanitizer. You also need to give your body and brain the right food. This means you need to get enough protein and fruit and vegetables.

Here’s a great treat for any time of day. Use this as a meal replacement or simply as a mid-morning or afternoon boost. Bananas are packed with potassium and avocados are loaded with Vitamin E. Added benefit: It’s delicious!

BANANA MILKSHAKE (Makes 2 shakes)

1/2 avocado

1 frozen banana

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Puree the ingredients in a blender and enjoy (only 150 calories per shake)

After you’ve written your book, be sure to find out the best publishing option for you. It may be traditional publishing or it may be one of the many new options available. Regardless of your choice, there’s a lot you need to learn about how the publishing industry works before you proceed.

Here’s another healthy snack:

POPCORN CLUSTERS

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 tsp cinnamon

8 cups of air-popped popcorn

1/4 cup almond slivers

Melt chips and stir in cinnamon and then toss in popcorn and and almonds. Spread on parchment paper and refrigerate about 30 minutes. When firm break into clusters and enjoy! Dark chocolate is good for the heart and cinnamon is good for several things, including digestion and reducing cholesterol (only 110 calories per cup).

We’re halfway through the first month of the New Year, which means that those of us who made resolutions should be in serious pursuit of them. Have you ever wondered how they came about? Originally, the concept wasn’t timed to the new year. Historians believe it got its start in the pre-Christian era with the Babylonians, then grew during the Roman empire.

Current studies show that roughly 50% of us still make resolutions. Sadly, we only have an 8% success rate.Here are the FIVE most popular resolutions:

1. Lose weight

2. Improve finances

3. Exercise more

4. Get a new job

5. Better diet/eat healthier

So did you make any resolutions? If so, what are you doing to achieve them? Resolutions should be achievable or else you will fail. For instance, if you have no desire to quit smoking then it is pointless to make it a resolution.

For wanna-be-writers, a common resolution is to “write a novel.” Wow! Talk about a tough one! If you have any hope of achieving this goal, you need to have specific goals in mind as to how to achieve this goal:

Do you have an idea? Have you written an outline? Who is the protagonist? Do you know how you want the story to end? For that matter, what is your genre? Have you researched what the common word count is for that genre? Novels vary in length from 60,000 – 120,000 words depending on whether it is a YA (young adult) novel or women’s fiction, etc. You need to know your genre and your target audience. This means reading lots of books by popular authors of that genre.

Once you have all these things nailed down, start writing. Don’t procrastinate. Set a goal. “I will write three pages every day.” Or if you are not a good self-starter then sign up for a writer’s workshop or creative writing class or a writer’s group so that you’ll have to write because you will have to show your work. (FYI: You’re in big trouble as a writer if you’re NOT self-motivated, but it’s okay if you just need a jump start or some guidance to get started).

Best advice: Do not start rewriting until you have a rough draft. It can be very, very, very, very rough but get the story down on paper before you start spending hours or days rewriting it.

More good advice: Once done (yeah!), put it away for awhile. This should be for at least a few weeks. During this time, you’ll gain perspective and you’ll be amazed at all the things you’ll think of to add or change regarding a character or a scene or even the beginning or ending of the novel.

Later this year, we’ll do another post about what to once you have finished a rough draft of your novel (editing, agents, publishers, etc) so stay tuned!

Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean you have to forego ghost stories for another year. Our staff has compiled this list of the scariest stories ever written.

The scariest stories based on true events (assuming you believe these events happened) include Amityville Horror and The Exorcist (1971). The latter is the story of child’s demonic possession that occurred in 1940s and the bk was made into a movie that got ten academy awards and had crowds rioting all across America on premiere day trying to get into sold out theaters.

More picks…SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (RAY BRADBURY): The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. But this isn’t like any carnival you’ve ever seen! Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, not to entertain but to take lives. Two boys discover its secret and must survive and figure out a way to save their town. Lots of imagery with smoke, mazes, and mirrors.

THE DOLL (J.C. Martin) The Island of the Dolls is a strange and eerie tourist destination in Mexico, where hundreds of decomposing dolls hang from trees like grisly Christmas ornaments. On a trip to the island, Joyce Parker’s daughter falls in love with a beautiful but sinister doll. Soon after, she starts developing strange mannerisms that concerns Joyce. Her research into the doll’s past reveals a dark history, and the curse of a lonely child spirit.

THE SHINING (STEPHEN KING) The Torrance family embarks on a months-long retreat into complete isolation when Jack Torrance signs on to be the winter custodian of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who thinks the months alone with his wife and son will allow him to find peace – and to finally finish the play he has been working on. His long-suffering wife has some misgivings, but the only person really clued into the dreadful possibilities is his son Danny. Danny has “the shine,” a gift which allows him to see and know things he cannot possibly know; As the days pass, the Overlook exerts more and more of an influence on Jack and basically turning him into a murderous new tool at the hotel’s disposal. Danny sees what is happening, although he cannot really understand much of it given his very young age. Very exciting and scary climax!
(I noticed that one of the reviewers wrote that King wrote most of the book while staying at the Stanley Hotel. This is another one of those myths that circulate, as we discussed a couple of weeks ago, Sara. King got the inspiration to write the book after his stay at the Stanley but didn’t not write one word of it while there! However, he did have a weird experience that I chronicled in my latest book, A GHOST HUNTER’S GUIDE TO THE MOST

Best Scary Stories FOR KIDS…The House with a Clock in Its Walls; The Figure in the Shadows; and The Letter, the Witch, and The Ring by John Bellairs are three magically eerie tales gathered in this one-volume edition. The series opens as Lewis Barnavelt, a newly orphaned ten-year-old, comes to live with his Uncle Johnathan. Little does Lewis know that Uncle Johnathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman are witches. Lewis finds that he himself owns magical powers, and soon is thrust in a supernatural battle between good and evil. The second tale focuses on Grampa Barnavelt’s old coin. Lewis thinks the coin is an amulet, but when he starts to wear it around his neck, bizarre things start to happen – and not all of them good. The last tale shifts the focus to thirteen-year-old Rose Rita, who is embittered because she cannot go to camp like Lewis. so Mrs. Zimmerman offers Rita an adventure of her own. But when a magical ring disappears, Rita gets more of an adventure than she bargained for. John Bellair’s vivid characterization and and excruciatingly suspenseful plots make this series a thrilling ride!Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes: The mirror looked ordinary. It had a heavy gold frame and leaned against the wall in the attic. But when Lucy first looked into the mirror, a strange thing happened. Another girl’s face appeared beside hers, laughing. Whirling around in surprise and alarm, Lucy saw a girl wearing a long dress, a pinafore…and a sly triumphant look on her face. Also, the attic had disappeared and another room had taken its place – a room that belonged to the past. The girl in the mirror was Alice, and she had lived a hundred years ago. Lucy found she could visit her any time she looked into the mirror. At first, it was fun to enter the past and see how Alice had lived. But, gradually, the chill of terror took over. Alice’s friendliness turned into a sinister desire for power and control over Lucy. And Lucy found it harder and harder to resist being trapped in the past with Alice forever!

Halloween Tree: Ray Bradbury’s classic adventure of four youths who try to save the spirit of their friend Pip from the ghosts of Halloween past. The four encounter a mysterious and creepy character, Moundshroud who takes them on a magical journey that sweeps them back as far as 4,000 years and touches down in exotic places all over the world like Egypt, England, France and Mexico. Along the way they discover the magic and meaning of Halloween – and friendship.

Melt butter and chocolate. Beat eggs, castor sugar, vanilla essence and coffee until smooth and creamy, and then slowly add the chocolate mix.
Sift flour and pinch of salt (optional) over mix and stir in the nuts. Bake for 40-45min must still be moist. (Recipe courtesy of South African Airways).

What else do I need to know: Writer’s Digiest Annual Conference is a great networking and learning opportunity for everyone in the writing world, ranging from wanna be writers to best-selling authors, as well as 50 editors and agents. Special guests include: Jacquelyn Mitchard (The Deep End of the Ocean), Hallie Ephron (Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel), G.P. Ching (The Soulkeepers series), M.J. Rose (The Witch of Painted Sorrows), and Jonathan Maberry (Fire & Ash).